SCALE RAILS of Southwest Florida

SCALE RAILS of Southwest Florida Newsletter April, 2008 Volume 9 Issue 4 OFFICERS Chairman: Dennis Little President: Peter Gross Vice President: Jim Edmier Secretary: Jim Morse Treasurer: Stan Seeds, MMR Layout Status We are into the summer period and many members are gone. Expect the construction progress to slow down some. Stan continues to build the Rainbow Bridge. This is a major undertaking! Ron is seen here dyeing the fence posts for the barbed wire fencing project to keep those steer from derailing the trains coming out of Castle Rock. Calendar May 10, Monthly Meeting, 1:30 pm May 16 18, SSR Regional Convention, Winter Haven, FL at Cypress Gardens June 14, Monthly Meeting, 1:30 pm June 21, Mid Year Western Division Meeting, 8:30 am 4:00 pm, Inverness, FL July 12, Monthly Meeting, 1:30 pm August 9, Monthly Meeting, 1:30 pm The NTRAK guys have decided to add a switching puzzle module to their collection. Darrin built the basic module, and here you can see Dwight pondering ideas for arranging the classic John Allen Time Saver switching puzzle. August 16, Late Summer Western Division Meeting, Plant City, FL Page 1 of 8

This is a picture of the logic board Lee is building for the helix traffic control and display system that is going to be installed later this summer. It is going to be really wicked cool as us New Englanders are fond of saying! Dennis is close to finishing the installation of the new control panel for Colorado Springs, with a little help from his friend Lee. The Scale Rails Family Picnic This picture shows the work Jim Beliveau has accomplished in detailing out the oil storage tank farm between Colorado Springs and Pueblo. He has added a road, vehicles, people, vegetation and gravel to make the whole scene come together very well. Great job Jim. There were 31 members and family at the Depot on April 12 to tour the layouts and see all we have accomplished since last time we all got together. It was a great opportunity for all of us to spend some time getting to know each other better in a relaxed atmosphere. And boy did we have a great cookout on our new gas grill. Dwight did all the cooking and did a really great job. Ron helped and Peter was a gofer. We had burgers and dogs, cole slaw, chips, pickles, and cold drinks. And in addition to the cookies we bought, some wives brought some really sinful deserts too. Everyone had a really good time, so plan on doing it again. Page 2 of 8 Sunshine Region Convention May 16 18, 2008 The spring 2008 Regional Convention will be held at the Best Western Admirals Inn at Cypress Gardens, in Winter Haven, FL. In addition to clinics, layouts, dealers, etc there will be an extra fare buss tour of 6 layouts: John Wilkes, MMR, Tom Wilson,

Lake Wales Club layouts, Keith Williams, and the Cypress Gardens HO layout. Contact Walt Roberge, Registrar at 863-294-3297 or write to him at 4120 Sprucewood St., Winter Haven, FL 33880. The Registrar will handle all registrations and room reservations at the hotel. Costs are as follows: Convention & Banquet Single $70 Couple $100 Convention only $40 ($45 at door) Banquet only $35 Hotel $79 + tax/night Let s see if we can t get a bunch of us to go to this one from Scale Rails. Meeting Minutes April 12, 2008 Members present: Jim Beliveau, Ben Curll, Jim Edmier, Lee Dobyns, Steve Gdovin, Skip Giddings, Alex Grantt, Peter Gross, Heino Hartmann, Darrin Kerwin, Randy King, Dennis Little, George Nink, Ron Parker, David Parsons, Dwight Sedgwick, Stan Seeds, Don Sprotbery, Oren Stephans, Bob Veefkind Meeting called to order at 1:30 pm. President Peter opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Minutes: Minutes from last month were in the bulletin. Motion by Ben Curll, seconded by Lee Dobyns to approve the minutes as printed in the bulletin. Motion approved. Treasurer s Report: Stan reported that our net worth is now $115,864. Cash on hand is $5,039.96. Checking account is $7,412.32. Our mortgage is now $32,590. Income exceeded expenses by $531 for the month and $5,300 for the year. We received $1394 in donations to date. Membership: Luther Ward has resigned. George Mocko has indicated to Peter that he wants to maintain his membership but is delinquent in his dues. Motion by Don Sprotbery, seconded by Heino Hartmann, to allow him one more month to get current. Motion approved. Communications: The club has received a letter from Lee County Code Enforcement citing our trailer as being in violation of the code. We have 30 days to remove the trailer or face fines up to $250/day. The Central Florida Historical Society will have a talk on May 22 by Michael Brazzie, noted Disney historian, talking about trains related to Disney. See Peter for details if you would like to attend. OLD BUSINESS: Upper Level: Stan reported that Oren is working on the roundhouse and has some new ideas to move its construction along. Mike Conner has finished Cajon and Victorville track work. Jim Morse is working on the Narrows at Victorville and Stan is working on the Victorville Bridge. Joint Line: Dennis reported that the narrow gauge track work is complete to Colorado Springs, the rock quarry is almost back together, and he is working on a new control panel for Colorado Springs. Jim Beliveau and Ron Parker are working on scenery. N Scale: Dwight reported that the n scale layout is fully operational; just doing general touchup. Darrin has built a new module for a switching layout and Dwight will begin on the track work. Building Maintenance: Dennis is coordinating the cleanout of the trailer. Those items we want to keep will be taken to the box car on Thursday of next week. Peter will remove the junk from the good box car to the old box car on Tuesday of next week. We had our annual fire inspection. We need to repair one exit light. Stan reported that he is getting prices to reseal the parking lot. We hope to do the resealing after the trailer is removed. Page 3 of 8

Lee reported that the revamped electrical grounding had been completed. Also, when doing the grounding, he was able to inspect the roof and found it to be in good condition and no leaks evident. NEW BUSINESS: Bench Power Supply: Lee Dobyns will conduct a make & take for a variable and fixed (5 volt & 12 volt) bench power supply. Approximate cost will be $40. It will take 2-3 sessions of 1-2 hours each. Ten members showed an interest. If you are interested, payment needs to be made in advance in order to get the parts. Please pay Peter. Helix Map: Lee and Peter are working on a lighted map to show train progress as they traverse the helix. Convention: The next convention will be held May 16-18 in Winter Haven at the Admiral Inn next to Cypress Gardens. It promises to be an excellent convention. until further plans were made for our building. Meeting adjourned at 2:45 pm Layout Tours Jim Morse did a great job of organizing the layout tours this year, and we decided to do them over two consecutive Saturdays. On March 29 we did the tour of layouts in Estero and Naples. On April 5 the Fort Myers and Cape Coral layouts will be toured. Here is a brief overview of the layouts we saw in Cape Coral and Fort Myers. The first house we went to was Jim and Pam Morse s house in Cape Coral. Pam talked Jim into building a garden scale layout around the inside and outside of the pool, and it is landscaped really nicely. It has sound too! Fund Raiser: Skip Giddings suggested we purchase a Pedal Car that looks like a steam locomotive and raffle it off. The car is designed for children 2-6 years old. Estimated cost is $300. Motion by Dennis Little, seconded by Stan Seeds to appoint a chairperson and evaluate the idea. Dwight was appointed chair. Amtrak Update: Alex gave an update on passenger service coming to SW Florida. Still way too much politics involved. Drill: Dennis Little moved that we purchase an 18 volt cordless drill. Seconded by Dwight Sedgwick. Motion approved. Drill Bit Sharpener: Skip Giddings moved that we purchase a drill bit sharpener. Seconded by Ben Curll. Motion approved. Refrigerator: Discussion was held on the purchase of a residential refrigerator. After some discussion, it was decided to hold off Page 4 of 8 In a spare bedroom Jim has his On30 layout that he brought to the train show last year. This layout sits over a queen sized bed, but can be taken apart into four pieces to move it to storage when company comes.

Here is a shot of a ball signal used where two lines intersect. Looks like that Rio Grande Southern freight has been given a high ball to get out of town fast. Our next stop was at a condo in the Landings owned by a fellow named Bill. Bill has been modeling for a number of years, and his skill and expertise show in his layout, his structures, his scenery, his wide range of interest, and is pride of accomplishment. Here Bill shows the inside details of the saw mill he built by lifting off the roof. There is a lot of railroading packed into this large room, and everyone was constantly seeing something new. Like the G scale track just below the ceiling! Page 5 of 8

Or the really nice turntable and roundhouse to service and turn steam locos. The layout is housed in a very large room so the club has built a substantial layout. Over the last couple of years some new members have been busy upgrading the layout and converting it to Digitrax DCC. Their intent with the layout is to represent all the major elements of Florida, but admit that is an impossible task. He has a number of clever scenic elements that get your attention. Here the Fire Department is busy saving lives and putting out a fire. Our next stop was the club layout at Shell Point. Here is one of our hosts for the day. Page 6 of 8

It has twin diesel engines. Here is one. Our final stop for the day was at Dennis Little s layout. Dennis also showed us around his new boat. Since most of you have already seen his layout, I ll just show you the boat! It s a beauty of a 56 Viking, modified sport fisher. He had just taken delivery that week and was busy moving stuff in and checking out all the systems. This is the galley, where I understand Mary Joe prepares gourmet delights every night they are on board! The command station is on the upper deck, fully enclosed. It is amazing the features on this ship. I can understand why Dennis went to Captain s School this winter! Page 7 of 8 Shirts If you want a Club shirt, contact the Club Shirt Lady, Dianne Korf. Shirts are about $28 each. Let her know your size and she will order them for you. You can contact her at (239) 281-8636 or by email at dkorf@msn.com

Scale Rails of Southwest Florida Scale Rails of Southwest Florida 1262 Piney Road N. Fort Myers, FL 33903 Our Charter Our intent and purpose is to promote and encourage the art of model railroading and preserve the history, science and technology of rail transportation. To this end we have organized our efforts for charitable, educational, literary and scientific purposes. As part of our endeavors, we host railroad displays, give talks and presentations for school, museums and various organizations. Our members do not presume to be experts, but rather a group of individuals sharing knowledge with each other. REMINDERS May 10, Monthly Meeting, 1:30 pm May 16 18, Sunshine Region Convention at Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven June 14, Monthly Meeting, 1:30 pm June 21, Mid Year Western Division Meet, Inverness, FL EDITORIAL The Family Picnic was a great success, letting us all spend some time together getting to know each other better and showing off our work. It was fun, and that s what it is all about. We need to do this again, but when more of the snow birds are here. We plan to do our next picnic in December, after the Train Show but while the building and layout is still in ship shape condition and the bathroom is still not yucky! Keep having fun! PETER GROSS, Editor Scale Rails of SW FL 1262 Piney Road N. Ft. Myers, FL 33903 Page 8 of 8